Now's the time to start planting.

April is a good month to start putting seeds into the ground. If you live in a colder climate perhaps they need to be started inside - to be transplanted out once it is a little warmer. If you live in a more temperate climate get out and start planting your cool season veggies.

I live in the west coast of Canada and have planted out some potatoes, peas, carrots, beets and put out some lettuce, broccoli, cilantro and parsley transplants in the last few weeks. We get a lot of rain, so have to make sure the soil is not too wet. I have some great raised beds which helps with the drainage so I can plant earlier.

Check out this link for pictures on how we made our raised beds.

I also plant in containers to have early veggies to eat.

Alternative Garden

I have decided to try a straw bale garden this spring. Check out my first pics and I will keep you all posted as to how it grows.

Suppressing weeds

Weeds have a tendency to grow faster that some of our seeds and can steal nutrients that your veggie plants need to grow well. Try to get a handle on them when they are small. For some suggestions to help with weeding.

Succession Planting

Succession planting is important to consider. This means planting a veggies every few weeks so you can be eating fresh veggies throughout the whole season. I will be starting some more transplants of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage which will be ready to go into my garden by the end of April or early in May.

Check out my garden plan books to help you with this if you are not sure how to go about getting started.

My new ebooks will help with your planning, check them out.

My 2012 Vegetable Garden Journal is a full package planning/journal book. You get the dates that are best for planting above and below ground crops, tips on how to grow 25 common vegetables, as well as tonnes more info to create a successful garden.

2012 Vegetable Planting Calendar gives you the best dates to plant your vegetable garden by the moon cycles. Learn more about planting by the moon cycles

All will make for wonderful winter reading and will assist in planning for next season. These are perfect gifts for any gardeners on you Christmas list as well.

Other vegetable gardening books written by Catherine Abbott, Your Vegetable Gardening Helper.

• Vegetable Garden Plans for Square foot Gardens
  
• Vegetable Garden Plans for your Rasised Beds
  
• Vegetable Garden Plans for Row Gardening
  
• The Everything Grow Your Own Vegetables Book
  
• The Everything Root Cellaring Book

If you have enjoyed this ezine please tell a friend.

Welcome to the world of vegetable gardening!